


Learning the Ropes

by notverycompelling (theZ)



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Bad Puns, M/M, Rope Bondage, Top Ryan, bottom shane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 06:02:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14562459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theZ/pseuds/notverycompelling
Summary: Shane is stressed out by a project at work, so Ryan helps him unwind by tying him up. Like you do.“Okay, wow. So that’s a ‘yes, let’s do this’ I take it.”“You bet your sweet nerdy ass it is. C’mon, Rope Master, PowerPoint me in the right direction. How do we do this?”





	Learning the Ropes

There is no sound in the universe that epitomizes frustration better than someone angrily closing a laptop. All that negative energy channeled into the downward arc of the lcd screen dissipating at the last second, because the only thing more ridiculously overpriced than the computer is the video editing software installed on it.

 

It gave Ryan blue balls just thinking about it, and when that very noise echoed off the walls of his kitchen, he muted the post-game show and got up to join Shane at the table.

 

Shane was hunched over, rubbing at his face. Ryan sat down next to him, not quite close enough that their knees were touching. 

 

Ryan wanted to reach out, place a warm, firm hand on Shane’s back, but right now he wasn’t sure if Shane would relax into the touch or flinch away from it. Instead, he offered in a low voice, “Hey.”

 

“I should go.”

 

And that made Ryan flinch. “What? Why?”

 

“I dunno.” Shane dragged his hands through his hair, but his gaze didn’t leave the laptop in front of him. “I’m just… I’ve been working on this episode so long I’m starting to hate it. I’m angry, I’m tense, I’m frustrated. Probably not so great to be around right now. I don’t wanna accidentally say something to piss you off.”

 

It took Ryan a moment to register what Shane just said.

 

Then he slapped the table as he doubled over in laughter, and almost felt bad about his reaction until he saw Shane’s eyes crinkle and his body shake. “Okay, yeah, I realized how stupid that sounded as soon as it was out of my mouth.”

 

Ryan leaned back and tried to catch his breath. “Shane Madej, say something to piss me off? Wow, that has never happened before! There’s just no way!”

 

“Right, right,” Shane nodded, and Ryan was relieved that the smile still had not left his face. “But even though ‘pissing off Ryan Bergara’ is almost technically my job description, we should probably keep that at work now that we’re, you know.” Shane held his hands up and slotted his fingers together.

 

“Fucking?”

 

“Yeah, sure, if you wanna put it delicately.” 

 

Their laughter chased away most of the tension, but as Shane’s eyes drifted elsewhere, the footage from the apartments above the voodoo temple—the scene he’d played and replayed far more times than was necessary in post-production and never mentioned again—flashed through his mind. “We need to get you out of your head for a while,” he said, half to Shane and half to himself.

 

“We— what?”

 

Ryan pushed back his chair and stood up. 

 

“C’mere, I wanna show you something.”

 

* * *

  
  


Ryan pulled the coil of hemp rope out of his underwear drawer and waved it as Shane. “Look! It came in the mail a few days ago.”

 

Shane reached out with one hand and rolled the rope between his fingers, nodding absently. “But where’s the grappling hook?”

 

Ryan let out an exaggerated sigh, the kind he reserved specifically for Shane. “You do remember us talking about this, right? I asked if you were interested—”

 

“No—yeah, I remember.” Shane stopped pinching the rope and scratched the side of his nose instead. “You practically gave a TEDtalk on knots and safety and, uh, rope variety.”

 

“You know me. Ryan Bergara, the research king!”

 

“Okay, but,” Shane held up a hand and locked eyes with Ryan. “What soundtrack did you listen to while you were researching this?”

 

Ryan could not hold back the smile breaking at the corners of his mouth. “The Space Jam soundtrack.”

 

Shane immediately started pulling off his jean jacket. “That is the sexiest goddamn thing I have ever heard.”

 

“Okay, wow. So that’s a ‘yes, let’s do this’ I take it.”

 

“You bet your sweet nerdy ass it is. C’mon, Rope Master, PowerPoint me in the right direction. How do we do this?”

 

Now that Shane’s mood had shifted, Ryan could not keep the smile off his face. “Start by taking off maybe 17 of your 18 layers of shirts.”

 

“I love your dirty talk,” said Shane as he pulled off a sweater.

 

“Keep your last shirt on. Since this is our first time, I don’t wanna do rope-on-skin just yet.”

 

“Right, makes sense.” Shane nodded as he took of his socks. He gave Ryan a questioning look as he clasped his belt.

 

“Yeah, lose the pants. We want you to be comfortable.”

 

“Then pants-less it is!” Shane pulled them off and threw them across the room in one swift motion.

 

Ryan giggled. “It looked like you were releasing a dove or something.”

 

“Be free!” Shane waved his arms in their direction once more for good measure.

 

Still smiling, Ryan shook his head as he tried to focus. By now he was used to jokes and laughter in the bedroom, but then again he rarely had to worry about providing step-by-step instructions to his partner. “Okay, so first off, why don’t you just kinda kneel—uh, kind of sit yourself in the middle of the bed.”

 

“Alrighty.” Shane practically leapt into the center of the bed and quickly settled in. He drummed on his thighs and stared at Ryan, ready for step two.

 

Ryan slid onto the bed and kneeled in front of him. “Now put your arms out,” he said as he uncoiled the rope.

 

Shane put his arms straight out in front of him, and Ryan gently pressed them together and began winding the rope just above his wrists. “Wow, you are almost suspiciously good at this,” Shane said.

 

“Well I already practiced this a bunch of times,” said Ryan, smiling while he worked. “I thought it might kinda kill the mood if I were sitting here looking at WikiHow on my phone while I tied you up.”

 

“Eh.” Shane shrugged, and his eyes didn’t leave the rope as Ryan finished the last knot. The remaining length of rope trailed off the knot like a long leash, and Ryan tested his handiwork by holding the rope up in front of him and letting Shane’s arms dangle.

 

The knot held tight, but Shane’s arms were a little stiff. He seemed to Ryan to be looking through his bound arms instead of at them. It was that trapped look again, like there was too much going on in his head for him to see past.

 

“Hang on a minute.” Ryan gently lowered the rope and slid off the bed, turning back to his underwear drawer. After some brief digging, he pulled out a long black piece of fabric. He held it up to Shane. “Can I?”

 

Shane quickly processed the request and nodded, and Ryan could tell he had his full attention again. “Uh, yeah. Yes. Go for it.”

 

Ryan gestured for Shane to turn his head towards him and leaned forward, using both hands to grab Shane’s glasses by the arms, fold them up, and set them on the bedside table. He slid into bed behind Shane this time, and leaned forward. One hand came up and raked through Shane’s hair, front to back, but it still jutted out in eight different directions. Ryan smiled fondly as he wrapped the black silk over Shane’s eyes and tied it firmly at the back of his skull. And managed not to make a single giant head joke. “You good, big guy?”

 

“Yeah.” Shane sounded almost surprised. Ryan ran his hands down Shane’s arms, and they relaxed.

 

Ryan grabbed the rope once more and lifted Shane’s arms slowly, up and back. Gentle pressure from his thumb inside of Shane’s arm told Shane to bend his elbows, and he pointed them up while his hands came to rest behind his neck. “Just like that. Hold it there,” Ryan whispered as he caressed Shane’s bicep.

 

Shane sighed, and Ryan looped the rope under his arm and low across his chest once. Twice. Looped the rope back over itself and pulled so that Shane’s hands and arms were pointing straight downward. “Do that again,” Ryan said. “Breathe in and out. Slowly.”

 

Shane did as he was told. Ryan leaned his chest against Shane’s back and wrapped his arms around Shane. He slid his fingers under the ropes and pressed against Shane’s ribs as he inhaled and exhaled. Inch by inch he slid his fingers under the circumference of the rope. Ryan closed his eyes and slowed his own breathing, just enjoying Shane’s scent and warmth.

 

Reluctantly he pulled back to finish tying the knot, and twisted the rope around itself in careful, deliberate motions. His hands knew what they were doing. It gave him a few precious moments to watch the way the rope pressed into Shane’s ribs with each inhale.

 

Ryan finished the knot at Shane’s back, and reached up to tug once more at the knot that bound his arms. It held secure, and Ryan slid his fingers down the rope, grazing Shane’s spine with his knuckles as he went. He heard a hitch in Shane’s breathing, quieter than a ghost.

 

Ryan leaned back to admire his handiwork. He rested his right hand on Shane’s hip and absently stroked at the band of Shane’s boxer-briefs under his shirt. “What do you think?” Ryan asked, before realizing what a loaded question that would be for Shane right now. He amended it: “How does it feel?”

 

Shane wriggled a bit. “Strangely not uncomfortable.”

 

Ryan inched closer, and wrapped his arm around Shane’s waist. He set his chin against Shane’s shoulder and pressed his lips into Shane’s neck. “How did it feel while I was tying you up?”

 

“Uh,” Shane squirmed. “Good. Nice. Relaxing. Kind of like getting a massage, actually, I guess. If you want to keep going—”

 

“I do. I definitely do.” Ryan tightened his arm around Shane’s waist. “But I don’t want to overdo it on your first time when you’re already tired.”

 

“Yeah, okay.”

 

Ryan kept hold of Shane’s waist, and let his free hand slide forward over Shane’s thigh, all the way down to his half-hard dick. “I could help you with this, though.”

 

Shane’s hands jerked in their bonds, and he gulped. “Definitely okay. Yes please.”

 

Ryan smiled into Shane’s neck and pressed gently with his palm. A little warmth, a little pressure. He relished the way Shane wriggled in his arms, as Shane struggled to lift his hips in his precarious position.

 

Ryan leaned back just far enough to reach the lube on the side table, and wrapped his arms around Shane’s waist once more, tugging Shane’s underwear down as much as he could. “Christ, you got hard fast,” he said as he wrapped a hand around Shane’s dick.

 

“It’s been a hard day.”

 

“Oh my god.” Ryan planted his entire face into Shane’s shoulder and tried not to laugh as he stroked him. Shane quickly lost his capacity for smart-ass remarks as Ryan’s pace quickened, and Ryan felt Shane’s pulse speed up in his neck, heard his breathing become shallow and ragged.

 

Ryan swiped his thumb over the head of Shane’s cock, and grinned as Shane instinctively tried to pull his hands forward to touch himself. “What do you want?” he asked Shane.

 

“Umm,” Shane croaked, but the sounds in his throat just came out as a moan.

 

“Then I’ll just have to figure it out myself.” 

 

Ryan reached down and cradled Shane’s balls in his other hand, gave them a gentle squeeze, and stroked the skin between his testicles in time with the movement of his hand on Shane’s shaft. Ryan dragged his stubbled cheek up Shane’s neck and was rewarded with another garbled moan as he traced the divot under Shane’s ear with his tongue. “Is that about what you had in mind?”

 

Shane was all but panting. “Uhn, Ryan, Ryan I—”

 

The rest of the sounds that spilled out of Shane’s mouth were definitely not words, and Ryan repressed a laugh at the idea that he’d caused Shane Madej to start speaking in tongues.

 

One more swipe of his thumb and Shane jerked, cumming across the front of his shirt. Ryan slowed his strokes, and pulled back once Shane was spent.

 

Ryan noticed Shane trying to breathe deeply against the rope around his chest and quickly unknotted him, reaching up to help Shane lower his arms slowly. Shane winced a little as he lowered them, still bound, into his lap. Ryan stroked Shane’s arms and planted kisses down the back of his neck. “Feeling better?”

 

Shane just laughed, and that was answer enough for Ryan.


End file.
